Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Mutton, Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Divide the meat into cutlets and trim away some fat.
Make the stew
Heat the butter or fat in a stewpan and fry the meat quickly on both sides.
Remove the meat and add the onion to the pan, frying until lightly browned.
Sprinkle in the flour and cook until well browned, then add the stock or water.
Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and add the diced carrot and turnip.
Return the meat to the pan, cover closely, and cook gently for about 1 hour.
Serve
Arrange the cutlets on a hot dish, strain the sauce over, and serve garnished with the boiled vegetable dice.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Turnip + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,874 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- Browned on the outside and then slowly cooked, it becomes tender in the covered stew.
- Onion
- Frying until lightly browned adds savoury sweetness and depth to the base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Cooked until well browned, it thickens the liquid and adds a toasted flavour to the sauce.
- Butter or fat
- Carries the heat for frying the meat and onion and adds richness to the dish.
- Carrot
- Adds mild sweetness and body to the stew as it cooks in the liquid.
- Turnip
- Adds a mild, slightly peppery flavour and soft texture to the stew.
The step that matters
Frying the flour until well browned. Cooking the flour in the fat until it browns develops a nutty flavour and thickens the sauce, but if it is rushed or burnt the sauce tastes bitter. Stirring steadily and watching the colour keeps it even.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, turnip, butter, flour, pepper):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, butter, flour, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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